Gastrointestinal Research Is Becoming More than a Gut Feeling by Jane Ramberg

I have a gut feeling …www.healthyscience.net
… that many of us underestimate the important role our gastrointestinal tract plays in our overall health. If you have been following the literature, however, you will have noticed an explosion of scientific interest in this area—research made possible with the development of creative tools that can explore the inhospitable territory of our gut, our “inner tube of life.” ⁽¹⁾ Much of this research has focused on the 1,000 trillion microorganisms (primarily bacteria) that live there. Dubbed the “dark matter of life” by the renowned scientist E.O. Wilson, these microorganisms outnumber the cells of our bodies 10:1 and, as a group, their genes outnumber ours 100:1.⁽²⁾ They have been tough to study because they thrive in an environment that defies replication in the laboratory. So, scientists have resorted to genetic techniques to obtain their population “fingerprints.”
The emerging science is uncovering the exquisitely complex symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship that we share with these microorganisms.^(1,3) The benefit for them, of course, is a nice, warm, safe place to live! And what do we gain? We’re learning that these gut bacteria do a lot more than their long-acknowledged tasks of breaking down complex molecules that human enzymes can’t digest and producing biotin and vitamin K. Their functions are much more sophisticated: producing hormones that direct fat storage; regulating intestinal physiology, development and function; “training” the immune system, and preventing the growth of harmful, pathogenic bacteria. We’ve also learned that gut microbial ecosystems can be perturbed by antibiotics,⁽⁴⁾ associated with changes in body weight⁽⁵⁾ and correlated with blood glucose levels.(6)